Due to various aeronautical telecommunications network (ATN) mandates, in coming years, it may become mandatory for all commercial aircraft to have a Protected Mode-Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (PM-CPDLC) datalink capability. In order to support these future mandates, the number of Air Traffic Control (ATC) centers or Air Traffic Service Units (ATSU) that are upgraded to support ATN will increase. As an ATC center or ATSU upgrades to an ATN capable center, or if the address changes for the ATN center, the database on an aircraft becomes outdated and the database needs to be updated to enable aircraft communications with the upgraded ATN ATC center. However, updating the database on all aircraft in a fleet of aircraft is a large effort, especially as more and more ATC centers upgrade to ATN centers or as the addresses for the ATN centers change.
An avionics host system, such as a Communication Management Unit (CMU), which is also known as a Communication Management Function (CMF), or a Flight Management Computer (FMC), also known as a Flight Management System (FMS) or Flight Management Function (FMF), hosts the PM-CPDLC application that uses the ATN center information present in an ATC database (residing in the CMU or FMC) to establish a PM-CPDLC connection. Currently, there is no industry defined format for the ATC database, and every avionics manufacturer has their own format and release of the ATC database for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or airlines. This practice is expensive as it requires all avionics manufacturers to maintain an additional software (or database).